dracanissfandomcom-20200213-history
Skills
Back to Index Skills At character creation, you choose a number of skills to be class skills equal to your class's bonus plus your Intelligence modifier, plus any racial bonus you may have (usually just 1, if any). Skills picked as class skills have ranks (indicating experience and training in that skill) equal to your total character level +3. If you gain an Intelligence modifier in your base Intelligence, you also get to pick an additional class skill. If you multiclass, you take the class bonus of whichever has the highest level and apply it to your total level, essentially meaning that both classes use the higher levels bonus. For example, a 6th level human fighter multiclasses into rogue at 7th level. With an Intelligence bonus of 2, his fighter class bonus of 2, and his racial bonus of 1, he would have 5 class skills. When he gains his rogue level, rather than use the rogue's +8 class bonus, he continues using his fighter +2 bonus, as it's his highest level class, but his max ranks are 10 because his total level is 7. If he continues leveling as a rogue, and reaches 7th level rogue/6th level fighter, he may pick 6 additional skills to be class skills, since his rogue level is now higher than his fighter level, and his max ranks are 16 since he's a total level of 13. This also works in reverse, should a character who started as a rogue gain more fighter levels than he has rogue levels, he has to choose 6 skills to cut. However, these cut skills retain half their ranks, and won't go any higher until you pick them as class skills again, which will return them to their normal max ranks. Outside of picking a skill as a class skill and simply leveling up, you may also take one of two feats to gain/raise skills. First is *** which allows you to pick a skill to be a class skill in addition to your normal ones, and will always be a class skill no matter what your total skill bonus is, since it isn't counted with the normal skill bonus, which also means it cannot be cut. Second is Skill Focus, which gives a flat +4 to a class skill. Skills that have a Skill Focus applied to them cannot be cut unless all your current class skills ALL have Skill focus, in which case, the cut skill also loses the Skill Focus bonus until it becomes a class skill again. To put it simply, if you're not going to multiclass, just pick a number of skills equal to your class bonus plus your Intelligence Modifier. Skill List Appraise - Allows you to determine the value of items, especially fine art, gems, and etc., but any item may be appraised. Characters may make appraisal checks in singular subjects with a small bonus with things they are familiar with, such as a fighter appraising a fine suit of armor (though not a magical one). You may also use this skill to barter and haggle, vs the target's appraise, bluff, diplomacy, or sense motive skill, gaining advantage if the target is using bluff. Balance - Used to balance in precarious terrain, such as on a narrow bridge, or the edge of a cliff. Suffers from armor check penalty if you have any. Bluff - Used to deceive others, this skill is primarily a diplomatic one, but infers lower morals. It is also the premier trading skill in terms of price adjustment, used to barter and haggle vs the target's appraise, bluff, diplomacy, or sense motive, gaining advantage on this check if they are using diplomacy. Success can cause a dramatic value increase when selling (50-100% compared to a more normal 10-25%) or a large decrease (25-50% compared to a normal 10-25%) when buying. If you fail, however, you gain disadvantage on any further checks to barter with that particular character that day, and failing 3 times in one day causes you to have to use a skill other than bluff to barter with that character from then on, unless they forget you somehow. Note that you cannot sell a merchant his own stock back to him except at a buyback price of 75-90% of what he sold it originally, or worse the normal 50% for non-licensed traders for unrecognizable/bulk goods such as standard swords or potions. This means that you cannot Bluff to get an item super cheap, then turn around and immediately resell it at a massive price increase using bluff again, and instead will only be able to sell it a slighlty lower price than what you purchased it (losing money) if the merchant recognizes the item as one he sold you, or for half what you bought it (since the price you haggled became the new base price for that good) if he doesn't recognize that he sold it to you, but remembers that he sold some for whatever your price was. Climb - Used when attempting to scale things that are taller than you or on terrain at very steep angle. Suffers from armor check penalty if you have any. Concentration - A caster skill used when you are casting under extreme duress, such as when assaulted by constant loud noise (like when next to a waterfall) or when hit during casting (usually as a result of an enemy's attack of opportunity), which may cause you to lose the spell if you fail this check. The DC to concentrate through an attack is 2x the damage in normal circumstances, or DC 15 if the attack misses or does less than 8 damage. Craft (Metal) - Allows you to make items made primarily of metal, with certain bonuses compared to normal item of their type (such as a +2 to damage on a longsword) if you're good enough. Also allows a check to harvest metallic materials (including things like drake scales or sliver talons, not just ores and rocks) as long as you have the proper tools. Craft (Leather) - Allows you to make items made primarily of leather, with certain bonuses compared to normal item of their type if you're good enough. Also allows you to harvest leather materials as long as you have the tools. Craft (Wood) - Allows you to make items made primarily of wood, with certain bonuses compared to normal item of their type if you're good enough. Also allows a check to harvest wood materials as long as you have the proper tools. Craft (Alchemy) - Allows you to make potions out of harvested ingredients, as well as having basic knowledge of flora and fauna of all kinds (meaning you can substitute an alchemy check in place of a knowledge check at half bonus and disadvantage, if sensible to do so), since that's your primary source of ingredient. Also allows a check to harvest said materials as long as you have the proper tools. Craft (Enchanting) - Allows you to enchant items with magical bonuses, as long as you are a caster, have a magical creature type such as dragon or magical beast and monster HD, or have taken the feat Savant's Infusion or Magic Item Artisan. See Magic Items for what sort of bonuses you can add and their DC's. Craft (Mechanical) - Allows you to make items with complex designs, such as repeating crossbows, locks, or traps, and includes "sci-fi" gear like lasers or power armor on the exremely high end (like 1000+ ranks). Craft (Stone) - Allows you to make items made primarily of stone, as well as as mine out caves, build stone buildings, and make other underground/stone architecture, though you will also need a knowledge (architecture) check if you want it to look like anything other than a random cave or pile of bricks. Also allows a check to harvest stone materials as long as you have the tools. Craft (Cloth) - Allows you to make items made primarily of cloth (and the cloth itself), with certain bonuses compared to normal item of their type if you're good enough. Also allows a check to identify and harvest plants used in cloth-making as long as you have the tools. Craft (Other-_________) - A catch-all or miscellaneous category for any craft that doesn't fit with any of the above, usually a niche craft like wine-making taken mostly for flavor reasons than practical ones, though that's not to say any skill put here isn't practical. Decipher Script - Used to create or decipher a coded writing or glyphs, even those in languages you technically don't know if you're good enough. Diplomacy - The go to skill for trying to convince others with only words (though not necessarily lies, usually that's a bluff, but not always), and also used to barter (vs. targets appraise, bluff, diplomacy, or sense motive), gaining advantage if the target is using appraise. Disable Device - Used to disarm traps or other mechanical devices. Disguise - The art of making yourself look like another, specific person, or blending in with a crowd, just another dude on the street. Requires a disguise kit to achieve the former and gives advantage, though you may use disguise with disadvantage if your already look very similar to the person you are trying to imitate. Escape Artist - Used to escape from grapple attempts or being restrained in some fashion, such as by a net, tied or chained up, or tangled amongst vines. You gain advantage on rolls to avoid/escape grapples if the enemy has less ranks in escape artist than you. Forgery - A bit of a misnomer, forgery is the knowledge of paperwork, procedure, and officiality, covering things like the official mint process, how contracts are formed, deeds are transferred, what official forms look like and how they are filled out, how taxes are done and any loopholes within tax laws, how official ID's are filed, made, and distributed, and so on. Most of the time this skill is used, however, it is in the creation of false documents or currency, hence the name. Note that since this is rather a lot of information to learn for a character, this skill must be taken separately for each country/region it is applicable in, those being: West (Human Lands), Central (Dragonkin lands), Eastern (Elven/Beastfolk lands), and Southern (Dwarvern/Kobold lands). You may also take a feat (Placeholder Name) that allows you to use one forgery skill for all regions, provided you have access to sufficient resources to study the region you wish to practice forgery in. Gather Information Handle Animal Heal Hide Intimidate Jump Knowledge (Arcana) Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) Knowledge (Dungeoneering) Knowledge (Geography) Knowledge (History) Knowledge (Local) Knowledge (Nature) Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) Knowledge (Religion) Knowledge (The Planes) Listen Move Silently Open Lock Perform (Vocal) Perform (String Instruments) Perform (Acting) Perform (Woodwind Instruments) Perform (Percussion Instruments) Perform (Storytelling) Perform (Other-________) Profession (___________) Ride Search Sense Motive Sleight of Hand Speak Language Spellcraft Spot Survival Swim Tumble Use Magic Device Use Rope